1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a centrifuge for substantially separating solid and liquid components of a slurry.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Crushed aggregate materials, such as sand or slag, and other materials which are handled as slurries, such as plant pulps, must be dewatered prior to subsequent handling in many applications. Centrifugal dewatering apparatus has long been employed in such capacity.
Typical centrifuges have frustoconical drums wherein the rotational axis is vertical. An early example of such a centrifugal separator is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 46,030, issued to George E. Sellers on Jan. 24, 1865.
A slurry is typically fed to the centrifuge through a conduit from above, the conduit discharging toward the center of the floor of the drum. U.S. Pat. No. 2,312,829, issued to Byron M. Bird et al. on Mar. 2, 1943, discloses a coal slurry separator having such a conduit. The Bird et al. patent further illustrates respective shrouds for collecting liquid and aggregate.
Further examples of centrifugal separators are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,422,464, issued to Tracy Bartholomew on Jun. 17, 1947, and 2,782,930, issued to Wolfgang G. J. Heckman on Feb. 26, 1957, and 4,066,547, issued to Dirk Hoks on Jan. 3, 1978.
A cylindrical drum is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,786, issued to Rudolf Riker on Oct. 14, 1986 and directed to separation of unhardened concrete into its constituent parts. However, this arrangement involves simple immersion in water and does not employ centrifugal action to effect separation.
In Soviet Pat. No. 957,929, dated Sep. 15, 1982, a centrifugal separator includes a frustoconical rotating drum which, unlike those of the above mentioned patents, does not have a greater diameter at the top than at the bottom. However, operation differs significantly from the present invention in other respects.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.